Romanian orphan studies: Effects of institutionalisation

Question 1

What is institutionalisation?

Answer 1

The effect of institutional care

Question 2

Give an example of an institution.

Answer 2

An orphanage

Question 3

Who conducted the Romanian orphan study?

Answer 3

Rutter

Question 4

How many Romanian orphans were a part of Rutter’s study?

Answer 4

165

Question 5

How many of Rutter’s Romanian orphans were adopted before the age of 2?

Answer 5

111

Question 6

How many of Rutter’s Romanian orphans were adopted after the age of 2?

Answer 6

54

Question 7

What type of study did Rutter conduct?

Answer 7

A longitudinal study

Question 8

Who did Rutter interview?

Answer 8

Parents and teachers

Question 9

Who were the Romanian orphans compared to?

Answer 9

52 British adoptees

Question 10

What did Rutter find about his Romanian orphans at the time of adoption?

Answer 10

They lagged behind their British counterparts in physical, cognitive and social development

Question 11

What did Rutter find about his Romanian orphans at the age of 4 years?

Answer 11

Some children had caught up with their British counterparts

Question 12

What did Rutter find in orphans adopted after 6 months?

Answer 12

They showed disinhibited attachments and had problems with peer relationships

Question 13

What do institutions cause children to lose?

Answer 13

Their personal identity

Question 14

What was the average IQ of the orphans adopted early?

Answer 14

102

Question 15

What was the average IQ of the orphans adopted later?

Answer 15

77

Question 16

What were the signs of disinhibited attachments in Rutter’s orphans?

Answer 16

Being friendly/affectionate with strangers

Question 17

Was there a size difference between Romanian orphans and control group?

Answer 17

Yes - smaller

Question 18

What does growing up in an institution do to the internal working model?

Answer 18

Causes a bad schema regarding relationships

Question 19

What did Quinton find?

Answer 19

Ex-institutional women went on to be poor parents

Question 20

What are the 4 institutionalisation AO3 points?

Answer 20

1) RWA
2) Individual differences
3) Confounding variables
4) Criticisms of the study

Question 21

What do Rutter’s findings have real world applications to?

Answer 21

Improving the lives of children placed in care

Question 22

What applications do Rutter’s findings have to adoption?

Answer 22

Shows importance of early adoption - most babies adopted within 1 week nowadays

Question 23

Why are individual differences important in institutionalisation?

Answer 23

Not all children who suffer the effects of institutionalisation are unable to recover

Question 24

What individual differences may have led some children to cope better with institutionalisation than others?

Answer 24

Being shown more attention, smiling more etc

Question 25

What were the conditions of the Romanian orphanages like?

Answer 25

Appalling

Question 26

Why is it problematic that Rutter’s study was a natural study?

Answer 26

Participants not randomly allocated - sample bias

Question 27

What validity is Rutter’s study high in?

Answer 27

Ecological validity

Question 28

What do longitudinal studies suffer from?

Answer 28

Attrition